London, this greatest of cities, received me into the world and I could not be prouder of her. However, drill down into my love of London and you’ll find it isn’t as simple as the “maybe it’s because I am a Londoner…” explanation from the famous song. There really is much to admire and love about the capital of the United Kingdom.

Walk along the city’s streets and you will meet the world. People, organisations and businesses from everywhere, of every race, of every faith and of every type have London as home. Travel anywhere and mention London and you will hear of a relative, a friend, or a “somebody I used to know” who lives or lived in London. You might even hear of hopes and dreams of London. It is the world’s city.

So, it was from an attendant at a fuel station with no electricity in a remote place in Sierra Leone that I learnt cowardly nastiness had been visited on London in the morning of 7th July 2005. His cousin in London had texted him about the assault on icons of the great city – its red double-decker buses and underground “tube” railway. People going about the business of earning a living so they could put meals on tables in London and many near and far away places were killed and injured the day after the world had shown its confidence in London by awarding her the Summer Games of the thirtieth Olympiad in 2012. With those games, London became the first city to host the Olympics more than twice and the world was received, hosted, cared for, entertained and loved in the glare of publicity. It was easy because that is what the city does every day of every week of every year.

However, there is no denying that London and what it stands for doesn’t get the approval of everyone. Less than three months ago mayhem was started on Westminster Bridge and continued toward that other proud symbol of London – the Palace of Westminster. Five weeks later the vicinity of the parliament that sits in the “mother of parliaments” was the scene of what appears to have been an attempt at another attack in the city and, before blood wickedly spilt at the arena of another great British city could dry, London suffered its second terror attack in less than three months. With both attacks in London, the list of the dead included people from very far off places; sad testimony to the fact that an attack on the world’s city is an attack on the world.

Between London Bridge and the nearby Borough Market you get an icon of London and a place that represents London. It was an attack on what London is and what Londoners are. Like the other attacks in the city, as well as the one in Manchester and other places around the world, the aim is to frighten us into being what they think we should be.

Look on how it has been and you might get to understand how it is going to be.

London hosted the games of the 14th Olympiad in 1948 soon after it had led in the fight of one of the greatest terror regimes of the modern era. The world was tired but London ensured return to business as usual. From the parliament outside which the March 2017 attack happened came the resolve that “we will never surrender”.

In the case of London Bridge, it connects the work places of institutions and people from all places to playgrounds and places of relaxation for people from all over the world. The song ‘London Bridge is falling down’ details determination to ensure it doesn’t come to pass. That is the spirit of London.

London is about resilience; London is about acceptance; London is about everyone. Most of all, London is about its most enduring and endearing feature – where the world meets, lives, plays and loves.